Best of the River Wards 2012: Best Art Gallery

While Hinge Caf&ea­cute;, situ­ated on a cozy corner in Port Rich­mond, might be best known for its de­li­cious food, own­er T De­Luca said the shop ori­gin­ally star­ted as an art gal­lery and cof­fee house.

“In the be­gin­ning, it was just go­ing to be a cof­fee house with art. That’s where the name ‘hinge’ comes from,” De­Luca said. “We wanted to hinge arts with the com­munity. Now, here we are, eight years later.”

As Hinge has an en­tire room ded­ic­ated to show­cas­ing and selling art­work by mostly loc­al artists, De­Luca said she is al­ways im­pressed by the tal­ent of the artists that share their work with Hinge diners.

She said that the gal­lery and res­taur­ant brings in new artists’ work mostly through “word of mouth,” and she tries to keep the ex­hib­i­tions ro­tat­ing to present a wide vari­ety of work.

In fact, she said the diners are of­ten the toughest crit­ics.

“The diners here are of­ten artists them­selves, and they are great crit­ics,” she said. “We try to treat our food as an art form as well.”

Smil­ing as she learned of Hinge Caf&ea­cute;’s win in the con­test, De­Luca said that she was happy that so many people ap­pre­ci­ate the work the caf&ea­cute; does to show­case loc­al artists’ pieces.

“This tells us that this is still alive and kick­ing,” she said. “We’ve ac­com­plished what we’ve sought out to do, and it’s so re­ward­ing.

Swing by Hinge Caf&ea­cute; at 2652 E. Somer­set St. to check out the cur­rent ex­hib­i­tion, or call 215-425-6614.